Script – Reference Comp by name instead of by index

[Walter Soyka]

You could iterate through all the layers in the comp, looking at their names to see if they’re the one you want.

Also,

[Tiago Cav] “app.project.item(4).layer(1);
The path is: (4) Fourth Comp inside Main composition and within, the (1) first layer.”

app.project.item(4) refers to the fourth item in the project panel, not the fourth layer in your active item.

Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive   |   RenderBreak [blog]   |   Profile [LinkedIn]

[Tiago Cav]

How to refers to the fourth layer in my active item?

And upon the indexing, can not be made references by name?

Thanks.

[Walter Soyka]

Layers within a comp can be identified by name. Items within a project cannot.

Starting with your code above:

footageLayer = myComp.layer("Footage");

Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive   |   RenderBreak [blog]   |   Profile [LinkedIn]

[Tiago Cav]

I understand. How to access layers in Composition selected or specific Comp instead of the composition on project panel?

[Walter Soyka]

myComp = app.project.activeItem;
footageLayer = myComp.layer("Footage");
footageComp = footageLayer.source;


Note that I’m not doing any error checking in the above. This will fail if you have no layer named “Footage” or if there is a footage layer which does not have a source. Note too that this script does not guarantee that footageComp is actually a comp; if you have a layer named “Footage” whose source is a file, footageComp will actually be an instance of FootageItem, not CompItem.

Your code should fail gracefully if these conditions are not met, so you need to check what’s returned at each step to make sure it meets your assumptions.

Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive   |   RenderBreak [blog]   |   Profile [LinkedIn]

[Tiago Cav]

Very good!
Thank you very much! 🙂

[Tiago Cav]

Just a more thing, please.

I want to to access a layer (Footage) which is inside of Comp (A) and Comp (A) is within Main Comp (app.project.activeItem;)

That is, use a layer which is inside of a Comp, that is into other Comp, in Script.

I only got it, through Project Panel with: app.project.item;
And cannot by Comp Selected: app.project.activeItem;

Thanks.

[Tiago Cav]

Example:
var myComp = app.project.activeItem;
var myLayer = myComp.layer("Footage").source.layer("Video");
myComp.duration = (myLayer.outPoint - myLayer.inPoint);